Blackstone couple indicted for defrauding MassHealth

Thursday

Feb 14, 2013 at 12:01 AMFeb 14, 2013 at 2:05 PM

A Worcester County grand jury has indicted a Blackstone couple for allegedly defrauding the state’s health insurance program out of more than $30,000, following a criminal investigation conducted by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Medicaid Fraud Division.

Jessica Trufant/Daily News staff

A Worcester County grand jury has indicted a Blackstone couple for allegedly defrauding the state’s health insurance program out of more than $30,000, following a criminal investigation conducted by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Medicaid Fraud Division.

Alan Morrissette, 53, and his wife, Jacqueline Morrissette, 55, both of Blackstone, are each charged with four counts of Medicaid false claims and four counts of larceny of more than $250, according to a press release from the attorney general’s office.

The investigation stemmed from a referral by the Office of the State Auditor Bureau of Special Investigations, which identified Alan Morrissette as the highest paid MassHealth personal care attendant in the state in 2009, earning more than $100,000 annually from the program.

According to the press release, investigators found the couple stole $32,000 from MassHealth as part of three false-billing schemes, all of which involved Alan Morrissette claiming to have provided home services to people who were at inpatient facilities.

Jacqueline Morrissette allegedly assisted her husband in obtaining money for services that were never provided by co-signing timesheets as the surrogate for the two MassHealth members who reside in their home.

Personal care attendants are hired and paid to assist disabled patients with daily living activities, and the patient acts as the employer. Such services cannot be provided while a MassHealth member is admitted to an inpatient facility or nursing home.

MassHealth members who are unable to manage the hiring of the attendant may pick a surrogate to do so for them. Typically family members of patients, surrogates are not paid for their assistance.

In one scheme from 2007 to 2010, the Morrissettes allegedly submitted timesheets for more than 2,000 hours of personal care attendant services rendered to a consumer who was actually at a day program located 10 miles away, according to the attorney general’s office.

In the other schemes, the Morrissettes submitted false timesheets and were paid for services for MassHealth members who were hospitalized or admitted to a residential care facility at the time.

The couple will be arraigned on March 5 in Worcester Superior Court; Assistant Attorney General Ian Marinoff is prosecuting the case.

A total of 32 indictments were returned this week by grand juries in Worcester, Hampshire and Hampden counties as the result of such investigations, which uncovered five former personal care attendants and three surrogates had defrauded the state program of approximately $260,000 by falsely billing for services that were not provided.

"MassHealth is a critical program that provides health insurance for some of our most vulnerable residents," Coakley said in the press release. "The brazenness of the fraud committed in these cases is particularly troubling. The defendants allegedly stole more than $260,000 from taxpayers, diverting resources from those who truly need it."

Jessica Trufant can be reached at 508-634-7556 or JTrufant@wickedlocal.com.

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